This is the same place I was in 2014. We bought the land and then planned to build a house 2 years later. It was awful!! Now that it is over, I really like where we live. But we ended up with a much larger house payment than I originally budgeted. And its just not worth it. My advice is to just be patient. There is a house with the same amount of land for sale right down the road from where we built. We could have bought that house and been plenty happy.

Problem is, housing market we are in is hot right now. Houses selling in 3 days and sometimes over asking price. So if I wait, we may miss it. Or it could get even better

Where did I leave that magic 8 ball??

$1700 for a tap and water meter install from Bham water works in Jefferson county.

Too many variables to answer. Just the house design can have a big impact on cost. And finishes too. Some houses might be $85/sqft, some will be $155/sqft. Depends. Just get a lock&key price for YOUR house design. And get full plans with details before so there are no surprises.

If he is not charging anything for change orders (unless it is ultra minor stuff like changing a paint, grout or sink color) you need to stay on top of him and hurry up and get your house CO'd as quickly as possible because he will be filing bankruptcy and out of business by the end of the year if he has more than a couple houses going.

You need to have a lot more information before you can start to get an idea of your cost. House design, finishes, fixture selection make a big difference in costs. If you are just relying on 'a house costs $xx.xx/sf to build' you are going to be very disappointed when the bills start coming in. You need to understand the components of a house and how much they cost and track these costs as the job progresses. A detailed spreadsheet with each component listed is the only way to do this.

Also, material prices are increasing in every sector right now and labor is in high demand. Be wary of any tradesman who isn't busy right now because they are probably lousy at their job.

All depends 100% on where you are building. I just pulled the permits and paid the fees on a house I'm building for a couple in south Walton County, FL. Water and sewer connection fees in Walton County, FL are $7,323 for a 5/8" meter and $10,624 for a 3/4". That does not include your deposit to actually turn the service on. In Okaloosa County, it is $4,000 for 3/4" water and sewer.

Clearing for $5K can be done, if you can burn on site and don't have to haul it all off.

Cheap is not the best way to go

"The Bitterness of Poor Workmanship and Bad Service Remains Long after the Sweetness of a Low Price is Forgotten"

I can’t imagine a scenario where I’d willingly build a house. I’ve heard too many horror stories.

built a custom home that we've been in for about a month... will never do it again and other than the rain and more rain and more rain over the past 9 months ours went fairly smooth (in home building terms). Bank and GC were easy to deal with and me and the wife decided well ahead of the process what we wanted so there wasn't much disagreement.

downside right now to building is material prices are sky rocketing and so are interest rates and finding good labor isn't going to be easy and if you do they are probably going to be wide open.


Best of luck.... We prayed prior to the process, during the process and continue still and that alone helped us through the aggravation and unknowns of building a house.

I have built multiple custom homes. That said, the only reason I would go through that agony and work again is if it is on family land and then it would be a barn house.

I know there are a huge amount of variables, just trying to get in the ball park of can we afford it, is this a rabbit we need to keep chasing

I built ours a couple years ago and put up several pics on here so Im sure they can still be found. If your unsure on how to get any of those things done or uneasy about any of it you will be better off to Hire a contractor to do it lock and Key. I did a lot of mine myself but I have a construction background. It was not stressful mentally on us just physical. My wife and I never got in 1 argument the whole time even though she packed her crap and left me there working one night, and wisely so. I built mine for very close to $90 a Sq Ft. I actually think I came in just under, and had I not ran out of time to meet our self imposed deadline I could have done it closer to $85. I hired some subs to do some of the work I had planned to do. Do your homework oh id say for about 2yrs then you will be ready to build.

We are doing it now. I bought the side of a mountain that had an old house on it. My wife liked it, and wanted to re do it. I wanted to tear it down and start fresh. So I have rebuilt the house without tearing it down. We have been doing all the work ourselves and have the outside finished. Most all of the walls have been reframed, ceiling has been vaulted in the front rooms and raised in the rest of the house. We have all new plumbing, electrical, and HVAC. I just passed all my inspections, and can now insulate and close the walls. I will be getting A1 to do the insulation, and a local person for drywall. They can do it cheaper, better, and faster then what I could do. Without the land we are in at 26K. We are paying cash as we go, and hope to finish in about 9 more months. We have been working on weekends for the last year or so. It has not been that bad. I have enjoyed most of it, but we do work well together, and we don't have to live in the construction. We have no formal building experience, but have done minor jobs on other houses that we have bought. I will say I have tools that I never thought I would own.

Maybe I need to clarify, we are looking at buying plans and going to a home builder to get all this done. I know someone in the excavation business so I can probably get a good price on the dirt work/clearing. I don’t know enough about the rest so we will be telling someone what we want as far as inside decor/etc.

Anyone know of a good home builder for the Shelby County area? I am supposed to be getting info on someone who built a house for the guy I work with brother in law and he said they got an awesome home for an awesome price but he is from Lincoln

whew, that's high to have a meter set.. do they dig it up, tap the main and set the meter for that cost? BWWB is $1200 for the meter loop and tap. that doesn't cover having somebody dig it up, supply the copper from main to meter or fixing the road back. pine mountain water is also $1200 but they do everything. im thinking Chelsea is SW water district and they will probably be along that same price range. Price from meter to house is totally dependent on distance, which will dictate size of pipe

Sent you a text.

Sounds like I either need to start hookin’ or dealing drugs to afford this

We have to pay the difference if adds in cost to original quote. But a lot of builders charge a fee to just make a change.

Was $1100 in Houston co